What’s New? Collecting for Manchester
7 February 2023 – 31 December 2025
This new display explores the different ways artworks enter the collection and showcases many new works which haven’t yet been on show. In our 200th anniversary year, we are reflecting on how the collection has been formed, how we can best use it and how it might grow in the future.
Our collection development policy outlines our current collecting priorities and is regularly updated. These are:
- to collect artwork which relates to Manchester or our existing collections
- to focus on artists under-represented in our collection including women, LGBTQIA+ and Black and Asian artists.
The display explores how the gallery works with patrons, collectors, artists and their estates and funding bodies to build the city’s collection of art. We benefit from the generosity of gifts and bequests to the collection. When we purchase artworks, we don’t use public money but raise funding through the Friends and Patrons of Manchester Art Gallery, trusts and foundations like the Art Fund. We also take part in specific acquisition schemes with the Contemporary Art Society and the Manchester Contemporary Art Fund. We also once mounted a crowdfunding campaign.
The collection is formed through a mixture of intention and opportunity and we want to make the collecting process, something which has happened behind closed doors, more transparent.
Experience this gallery in a whole new way and connect with Manchester Art Gallery anywhere, anytime.
Immerse yourself with our new digital resources on the free Bloomberg Connects app or take 3D virtual tour of the Gallery.
Further information
- Opening times: open 10am–5pm, Wednesday–Sunday
- Location Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL
- How to get there: By Metrolink – St Peter’s Square or Market Street stations are the nearest Metrolink stations-both are on the Altrincham and Eccles lines; By Bus – Nearest bus stops are in Piccadilly Gardens or on Princess Street; By Train – to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road or Manchester Victoria stations – take the Metrolink from Victoria or Piccadilly (Altrincham or Eccles direction) to Market Street or St Peter’s Square; By Car – parking is available at the NCP car parks on Chepstow Street, Faulkner Street or Sackville Street – all are within five minutes of the gallery
- Further information 0161 235 8888
